Programmable logic devices, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), enable the fast, efficient, and low-cost implementation of circuits in electronic devices. Programmable logic devices generally include logic elements which can be configured to implement logic functions. A portion of the programmable logic device can be partitioned to implement a plurality of hardware modules. That is, these hardware modules can be programmed as needed to implement a desired function of the programmable logic device.
However, there is no current mechanism for hardware modules to directly modify complex software structures. Software interacting with hardware and vice versa is usually done by primitive data types which have a natural equivalent in each domain. For example, an integer in C corresponds to 32 wires in hardware or a 32 bit register. Hardware which wishes to read and modify this value over a system bus can simply request the 32 bits stored at a certain memory location, and write back the new value to the memory location. However, data structures have no natural equivalent in hardware.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method of and apparatus for enabling a hardware module to interact with a data structure.